The present invention pertains to a system and method for supervising and monitoring a plurality of people from a remote location, and more particularly to a new and improved system and method for using an integrated network of hardware and software to produce an interactive environment between a plurality of distinct active locations and a remote location, and to a new and improved system and method for providing assisted living services to persons with cognitive disabilities that greatly increases the independence of those disabled persons at a lower cost as a result of significantly increased productivity of a daily living supervisor, without compromising the quality and effectiveness of the supervision provided.
The modern philosophy for assisting adults with cognitive disabilities to a more independent lifestyle focuses heavily on inclusion, or integrating those adults into normal living environments. This has lead to a movement of these individuals to smaller and more geographically disbursed group living arrangements supported by public finding. Over the last 35 years, the institutional population of persons with cognitive and other developmental disabilities in the United States has declined steadily from a peak of 195,000 in 1967 to 50,000 in 2001. States have closed institutions in order to reallocate institutional funds to more individualized residential alternatives in community and family settings. Between 1980 and the present, the number of community-based group homes and supervised apartments for persons with developmental disabilities in the United States increased tenfold. Nearly two-thirds of all persons with developmental disabilities service in out-of-home placements in the United States now live in homes and apartments that serve six or fewer individuals.
Demographic trends are also a driving force behind the increased demand for smaller, community residential services. As a result of advances in medical treatment, people with developmental disabilities are living longer. Twenty-five years ago, the average life span of a person with a mental disability was in the late 50s. Today, it is just a few years less than the average life span for a non-disabled adult. As a consequence, adults with developmental disabilities are outliving their caretaker parents at an increasing frequency. It is estimated that over one-quarter of all persons with developmental disabilities are presently living in a household with at least one family member 60 years of age or older.
All states face growing waiting lists for community residential or living services as a result of these trends. This exerts added pressure on government to expand living system supports. For example, in the State of Indiana, a waiting list of over 6,000 individual with developmental disabilities needing community support services existed in 1998. This was used as leverage to garner a supplemental appropriation of over $39 million in the state budget to address the needs of those on the waiting list. Even with tax revenues on the decline, the Governor has requested an additional $50 million in his budget for this issue. Legislators on both sides of the aisle have voiced support for the initiative.
As this system of community services in small settings grows, it requires the input of more and more direct services staff. This work force resource has grown increasingly scarce. Population estimates through 2008 put the growth of the total U.S. labor force at about 1.2% per year. Limitations on government reimbursement rates for provision of community services makes it difficult for providers in this area to compete with other businesses for this scarce resource.
The current method for supporting adults with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities in a community-living environment relies on face-to-face contact between a paid staff person and the adults with cognitive disability. This contact occurs primarily in the disabled person's house or, more often, apartment. A basic living routine and associated tasks are established for the disabled person with that person's input, such as times to awaken, shower, prepare meals, go to work, etc. A direct services staff person then uses prompts to assist the disabled person the daily living routine, including some individual tasks associated with these routines. Most often, these are verbal prompts interspersed with visual cues. Visual cues may include gestures by the staff person or the use of visual aids, such as a picture book sequencing meal preparation activities. The staff person is physically present in the apartment when this prompting occurs.
This method of face-to-face and one-on-one support has not changed significantly since the inception of community-based services. As the number of these service sites multiply, so does the requirement for direct services staff. In order to accommodate the growth of these services, some method must be developed to greatly increase the productivity of direct services provided in these environments. One method already recognized and in use is telephone technology. Where a disabled person can be trained to call for staff assistance at non-critical time periods, such as during overnight hours, the staff person need not be on site in the apartment with the disabled person to provide oversight and necessary supervision. This productivity enhancement allows one staff person to be at a remote location and serve many different consumers at the same time.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for providing remote supervision of a plurality of people at different locations at the same time by one person. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method whereby one supervisor can, remotely, do the work currently done by four or more supervisors who must be physically present in each supervised location to affect the guided supervision of people in those locations.
It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for remote supervision that improves staff productivity. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for remote supervision that frees the time of the remote supervisor in order to allow the supervisor to direct supervision and oversight services to persons in other locations.
It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for providing remote supervision of persons with cognitive disabilities living independently of each other. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for increasing the independence of persons with cognitive disabilities requiring assisted living services. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for providing remote supervision of people with cognitive disabilities living independently of each other requiring assisted living services which utilizes an integrated network of computer hardware and software that provides for an interactive environment between a plurality of persons living independently at spaced apart locations with a remote supervisor. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for providing improved remote supervision of a plurality of people at different locations living independently of each other with significantly less man hours.
It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved method for providing remote supervision of several people with cognitive disabilities in different locations by a single remotely positioned supervisor in a society in which the number of persons needing such supervision is increasing and the number of skilled supervisors is decreasing.
It is therefore also highly desirable to provide a new and improved communication system that permits interactive communication between a remote supervisor and a plurality of people with cognitive disabilities at different locations living independently of each other. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved communication system that utilizes a plurality of interconnected audio, visual, and physical sensory displays, signals and prompts to supervise a plurality of persons at spaced remote locations. It is also highly desirable to provide a new and improved communication system with a means for effectively and efficiently effecting communication, for operating the plurality of displays, signals and prompts, and for collecting, organizing and accessing information to be exchanged between a remote supervisor location and a plurality of spaced active locations supervised thereby.
Finally, it is highly desirable to provide a new and improved method and system having all of the above identified features.